Who Are You Learning From?

[00:00:00] Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Unleashing Brilliance. How are you all? Today's episode, I want to talk about this concept of who are you really learning from? In fact, I'm going to add another word in there. Who are you really, really learning from? It's one of those questions that I'm constantly asked.

Janine, who is your mentor? Janine, where do you get your learning? Janine, who inspires you? And it got me thinking about this concept of who we are really, really learning from. As someone who has built up a seven figure business, there is no way I could have done that on my own. In fact, I'd have been absolutely screwed if I tried to do everything on my own.

And rather than seeing doing it on your own as somewhat of a heroic, rhetoric, I actually think it's one of those really clever rhetorics that stops so many of us from reaching our [00:01:00] potential. it's one of those things where we're so busy scrambling around trying to do things on our own, failing to ask for help, failing to think differently that, In my opinion, it's the very thing that stops us from unlocking the full potential in our business or in ourselves. That notion, let's be honest, of investing in ourselves is something that requires a lot of bravery and a lot of confidence because often it's about venturing into the unknown, isn't it?

Like you sign up to work with someone or you've taken a brand new mentor and you've got absolutely no idea what's going to be on the other side of that journey, what you hope for is growth and momentum. So I really do believe that seeking out support requires bravery and it requires confidence because that fear of venturing into the unknown.

And it's this, daring act of self improvement that has actually propelled me forward in my business, and propelled countless others forward. [00:02:00] And If I think back to my journey, there is no doubt that throughout my entire life, in fact from the moment I started working, I've had the privilege of learning from some incredible mentors, incredible individuals, brilliant individuals that have left their indelible mark on me and on the journey and the choices that I've been making.

Now as I said, I'm often asked who those people were. And the fascinating part for me is that when I reflect and think about those mentors, those coaches, those people that have inspired me to actually step forward that have stretched my thinking. Each and every single one of them has had a unique role.

They've had a unique role in shaping the person that I've become, collectively at times. They've become my personal board of advisors. My marketing machine, my intelligence bank, and over time, collectively, these people have been part of that intricate maze of life and business, where you're making the choices as [00:03:00] to whether to turn left, to turn right, to go forward, or to step backwards.

Every single one of these people that have shaped my business, that I've learned from over the course of my career, has fundamentally become that, critical board of advisors that I often talk about, that I do talk about in my book, It's Who You Know. And so, this week I've been asked multiple times, That question of who are you really learning from Janine?

Who's helping you? And so I thought I'd spent some time just reflecting and I thought I'd share with you some of the people that have made That indelible print on my business journey in my life And I invite you to get curious as to who yours might be if you had to write a list of the top 10 people That have influenced and shaped your business journey to now who would they be?

And I'd also invite you to get curious as to who's gonna be next who needs to come into your world To help you shape this next phase of your journey. This is all part of how do we unleash brilliance? This isn't about staying stuck and staying [00:04:00] still. This is about embracing that collective smarts, knowing that we cannot be successful alone.

It is only when we bring other people into our world, people that are going to stretch us, that are going to push us, that are going to pull us, that are going to teach us, that are going to inspire us to be more, that we're going to become better tomorrow than we are today. So, here's my list and I've written them down.

So bear with me when I sort of pause and look at my list. so one of the first people on Reflection that really shaped, the journey of my career was actually my very first boss. You know, at the age of 21, I started working As a graduate, I joined a graduate training program for a company called Coats Viyella in London.

I was working off Carnaby Street, in, really that fashion capital of London. And I joined a graduate training scheme after university, which ultimately meant various, internships in different parts of the business. And one of the, internships that I had [00:05:00] was with a lady called Teresa White.

she was like the final one that I did in that graduate traineeship year. And I ended up actually working with her. She gave me that full time job after the graduate training program. So she was, my first boss. She was the marketing director at Coats Viyella and I believe when I think about Teresa, I call her my attention to detail guru.

Her mentorship really was my initiation into that world of professionalism. She instilled in me the importance of unwavering attention to detail, of really getting languaging and design and briefing right because without that cornerstone of the detail in the briefing process, often the, the design and the copywriting kit that came back may have, been off mark. And when we did get it right, it was that attention to detail around the copywriting, around the proposal creation to ensure that we were very clearly articulating [00:06:00] our ask and influencing as much as we can. And her influence, really was an essential part of my journey towards becoming a meticulous and effective communicator.

that's where it all started. Trust me, there were a few mistakes along the way. My favourite one as a graduate trainee is I was signing off on a brochure that was going through the UK, it was going off to the US, it was going throughout Asia, and in my rush, my lack of attention to detail, I signed off on a print run that instead of the skirt being New Buck leather, it became Rue Buck leather.

So essentially, The cost at that time was the thousands and thousands and thousands of brochures that were printed with a spelling mistake. Yet, I learned very quickly, from Teresa that the attention to detail is absolutely critical to not only influence more, to communicate effectively, but to also ensure that what you're planning to put out there is exactly what you want to put [00:07:00] out there.

So she was one of my first. The second person that springs to mind for me, was Matt Church. Matt Church really, unlocked for me the craft of my personal intellectual property. What it is that I actually think. So, after I left my corporate job group, marketing director at Oriton Group, I ended up working with Matt, and I worked with him for a significant period of time.

Matt, for any of you that may not know him, is the founder and chair of Thought Leaders Global. And I worked with him, to unlock my own IP, my own thought leadership. To essentially take what I think and turn it into IP that I was then able to effectively communicate both through the written word and the spoken word and the result of that work really was the start of my journey into the work that I do now.

really the result of working with him became my first book, From Me to We. And there's been subsequent books after [00:08:00] that. And it was also with working with Matt that I started and launched my speaking career. His mentorship was instrumental in refining my speaking skills and giving me the tools to captivate an audience.

And this pivotal knowledge, as I said, really became the foundation of the journey into next of my career post corporate. Alongside that, around the same time, the next key person I can think of is Kelly Irvin. She runs the Expert Author Academy. Uh, she wasn't running that at the time. I engaged Kelly to essentially be my editor in the book writing process, and she taught me, I call her the book writing taskmaster. When I embarked on that journey of book writing, it was Kelly who pushed me relentlessly. She was my butt kicker from day one. She questioned, who am I writing this? book for? What is the overarching [00:09:00] message of this book?

She kept me on track of a project timeline of writing X by Y, knowing that we had that deadline of getting the manuscripts to the publisher to meet that publishing deadline. And she really taught me the art of, dedication, of discipline, everything that is required to undertake that mammoth task of writing a book.

Because any of you that are listening to this, that have written books or that want to write books, it really is a daunting task. But with, Kelly's guidance, I not only overcame that fear, the imposter syndrome, the lack of self confidence, the constant debating and questioning as to whether what I was writing was good.

I well and truly, fell into her shitty first draft mentality. But she kept me on track. And I learned that to embrace that process, to really dig deep, to ultimately be dedicated to the [00:10:00] why I wanted to write a book was. the significant milestone in my personal growth. And, you know, since then I've written three best selling books and many of them have been translated into multiple languages.

Um, they are available in multiple formats and they are a very thing that have established my positioning. So I'd Absolutely put Kelly Ervin there in terms of someone that I learned from. The power of writing a book to build your positioning and the work that goes into it. Next up are two very good friends, colleagues, peers, that continue to be part of my world.

And they are Gabrielle Dolan, who is a thought leader in the storytelling space. And Kieran Flanagan, who is an incredible communicator. And these two incredible women, really taught me to think bigger and then think bigger again. They are a dynamic duo. If you ever get a chance to work with either of them, I highly recommend you do.

Check them [00:11:00] out. As I said, they both played an instrumental role in helping me build the business that I've got now, helping me question how I wanted to run my business. And how I wanted to grow and scale that business. Then mentorship and friendship, really pushed me to take significant leaps and bounds in my business journey.

They encouraged me to do things like raising my prices, to do work on my terms, and really, to. own and to have conviction in my IP and what I think in the work that I do. And it really was a pivotal shift in me building a significant business, running it on my terms. So Gabrielle Dolan and Kieran Flanagan, if you're listening to this, thank you very much.

Now next up, the next key person I can think of, really came into my world on the back of those wonderful COVID years. When COVID hit, at that time, my business was very much an in person business. [00:12:00] Speaking, traveling, doing workshops, working in person with various organizations and standing on various stages around the world.

And then of course, COVID hit and everything stopped. We lost about 80 percent of our revenue within that. first quarter of COVID. And at the time I knew I needed help. I was getting so many calls from people on the back of the books and the work that I'd done to then, people saying, can we work with you?

Can we work with you? Can we work with you? And I started to get curious as to how I was going to take my IP. And turn it into a product that would allow me to scale, globally, and to be able to work to larger audiences versus one on one. And so I reached out to Taki Moore and he became my next key pivotal person in terms of the development of my business and I call him my online IP leverage and business scaling guru. He was phenomenal. He's an expert in leveraging IP online [00:13:00] and building an online business. And he became a crucial part in the reshaping and scaling of my business during those COVID years, I learned how to take my expertise online, how to leverage the digital landscape, how to reach a wider audience and ultimately how to achieve scale on a scale that I'd never even considered before.

So again, thank you, Taki. In terms of that board of advisors, I also include Ann Jamieson and Emma McDowell. They both work at Sexton Speaker Bureau and they were really a fundamental part in taking my, speaking global. Both of them gave me incredible mentorship in the art of stepping onto that global stage.

They created incredible opportunities for me to speak around the world and that opportunity that they created for me and their confidence in me built the confidence in myself to step onto those massive stages in my unique way and to share my message in the [00:14:00] way that I wanted to share it. And so for me, it was really finding people that believed in me and that would help me develop the craft and the art of the business of speaking. So that was Anne and Emma. Next person that I can think of is a guy called Ron Harvey. I met him at Harvard and he really taught me the art of diverse and global thinking. He has an incredible background. For any of you that have read my books, I share his story in Be Brilliant. And I've also, there's a previous episode here on the Unleashing Brilliance podcast where I had the absolute honor of sharing his story and his gift with this audience. So if you haven't checked that podcast out yet, search for The Unleashing Brilliance interview with Ron Harvey.

He really opened my eyes up to the beauty of diverse and global thinking. He imparted on me the virtues of curiosity and having a bigger perspective and showed me how a holistic view of the world can really be a [00:15:00] guiding light in life. Something that I think, in the current times that we're in where, you it continues to be uncertain and challenging and unknown to be able to find the light in life and business and to be able to focus on that and double down on that versus focusing on what isn't happening, is a powerful gift. I'll be forever grateful to Ron for that. two more people that I want to mention.

Next up is James Kemp. James Kemp is all about putting life first and business second and he's instilled this understanding in me and this belief in me. Again, it's part of a shaping our business that life should confer first and everything else to do with business revolves around it. His mentorship in this space about taking what it is that we know and packaging it up in such a way that it works for us has really been a critical aspect in the next phase of our journey.

And it's the cornerstone of everything that we have built and how we are running our own [00:16:00] business. Building our business on our terms, putting in place the rules that we want in our business and knowing that this business that we are building, doesn't have to necessarily conform to the way everyone else is doing it.

We can do this in our way, on our terms, and in a way in which we love and which we enjoy. And the final person that I just want to acknowledge here is Donna McGeorge. you know, she's really taught me about how we can design a life that we want and build capacity around that. You know, as someone of my age, coming from that north of England, working class, work hard mentality, and hopefully one day after working hard, you'll get noticed and work hard and hopefully you get what you want and work hard, work hard, work hard, there is no doubt that it has created this workaholic tendency for myself. And so learning to be able to work smarter, to [00:17:00] build capacity into my day, to build capacity into myself so that I can actually be the best version of myself has been a phenomenal learning and insight. And I'll be honest, it's something that I'm continuing to work on as we build our business over this next decade.

She really helped me understand the importance of life and business by design and ensuring that the journey aligns with my dreams and the vision and aspiration that I have for myself and my family. So, so there are a few people that have really been instrumental in my life that I have learned from and these incredible mentors, the unsung heroes behind the success that we have created. Collectively, they've been, and some continue to be, my personal board of advisors, that marketing machine and that intelligence bank, guiding me through the complexities of the decision making that we are making every single day, that you are making every single day, right?

It's complex, it's tricky building your own [00:18:00] business. and we cannot be successful alone. You know, when you're running your own business, you are often making decisions that are going to impact your clients, going to impact your team, going to impact your suppliers and potentially going to impact your family.

And we need that sounding board to ensure that when we do make those decisions that we are intentionally making those decisions and those choices. And I would say that each and every single one of those people that I've mentioned just now have played a pivotal role in shaping the business that we now have.

And the person that I have become and their combined influence has really enabled me to shape my life and my business by design. And I continue to take on board their learnings. so my message to you today to think about is who are you really learning from? And not to be afraid to invest in yourself, you know, seek out mentorship, because you'll discover that the unknown becomes a really [00:19:00] exciting journey of self discovery of fulfillment of learning new frameworks and new strategies of ultimately building the business and life that you want, not what someone else wants.

The business and life that you want. This is what unleashing brilliance is all about. This is what I'm passionate about. You know, I work with so many of my clients to understand what is their vision for the future? Why are they doing what they are doing? And then helping them and guiding them to shape the decisions, the strategies, the frameworks, the roadmap, and the game plan that fits with the life and business that they want.

For me, it's about. building a successful business, building a business where you are welcoming way more profit than you ever thought was possible and achieving more success than you ever thought was possible and doing it without it negatively impacting your lifestyle or without it negatively impacting the income levels or your business becoming [00:20:00] those horrible shackles around your ankles.

We don't want that. It's not about building a business that becomes a job or something that you resent. So like me, you too can build that personal board of advisors and directors if you choose to. Those people that are going to guide you, inspire you, teach you, stretch you, promote you, hold you accountable.

They're out there if you seek them out. So, Love to hear your thoughts. Hope you enjoyed this episode. Make sure you message me back with what you loved, what you learned, what you're doing. And I'd really love to hear who are the mentors that you've learned from to now. And I really encourage you to get curious, spend some time this week thinking about who has shaped your life to here in your Think about, try and come up with the 10 people that you would like to say thank you for, whatever it is that they did, for the impact that they've had on your life and business. And I'd also encourage you not to just stop there. I want you to think about what is it that you want to [00:21:00] achieve in your life and business over the next period of time, the next 6 months, the next 12 months.

And maybe get curious. about what help you need now, who are the people that are going to help you achieve your next in your business? Who are the people that are going to help you unlock the brilliance, the opportunity, the next leverage piece in your business and in your life? What helps you need moving forward and who is going to help you?

Hope you enjoyed this week's episode and I look forward to catching up with you all next week.